Torn
by Ryoko Ultimalus
Summary: Well... This is the first fic I'm submitting here, and the first fic I've ever written... I hope you enjoy it. Comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism very welcome... Hope you like it. I'll start on the second chapter in a bit (depending on how this one is re


A moment, and their gaze was broken. Broken by pride, by anxiety, by fear. Perhaps even broken by fate, by their for once gentle fortune warning them of what could never be. Hermione quickly went back to work on her Charms paper, Ron pretending to do the same… He hadn't been working on it in the first place, but he didn't really feel like hearing Hermione nag. Harry was off somewhere with his girlfriend, Cho… They had been going out for a while now, and the closer they got, the less of Harry Ron and Hermione saw… You could even say Ron and Hermione were getting closer. Of course, the two would deny it in a split second, but that didn't make it any less true… It also didn't ease the nervous tension that always wormed itself between the two, the tension that always put butterflies in Hermione's stomach. The tension that would end after the incidents that would play out… Of course, at that moment, none of this had happened. This moment was only the beginning of everything, only the first time Hermione's feelings would surface…

"Ron, could you pass me that book right there?" Hermione motioned to a book near Ron, her voice airy, her concentration still not deviating from her parchment. Her quill scratched eagerly as Ron looked up from his own parchment with a puzzled look.

"Which one?" His voice cracked, traces of puberty running rampantly in it. He quickly cleared his throat, not helping at all, but making it even worse… He had been "hem"ing and coughing all day, irritating his throat. To say the least, he wasn't in a very good mood… Not sour, just not very good, either.

"That one… Ron, how far along are you?" she asked sharply. As she stopped writing, Hermione's full attention finally snapped to Ron, because she noticed the absence of movement from his quill. For a moment, the two simply stared at each other over the stagnant air, until Ron quickly ended the silence with his clumsy-sounding voice.

"Eh… I'm almost done. Here's that book…"

Hermione's brow furrowed, but she simply looked back at her own parchment rather than questioning Ron farther. She opened the book, thumbing through it at lightning speed until she came upon the page she was looking for. She began to write yet again, though she found that her concentration was sort of split. By what, she wasn't sure, though. Feeling a bit nervous, she decided that she would simply take a nap and finish the work later… She _had_ been working pretty much all day. She told Ron what she was going to do, and went to bed, a bit nervous.

Later that night, Hermione woke up, her hair a complete mess, her clothes rather ruffled as well. Not feeling like making any effort to look nice this late, the young witch simply trudged down the stairs, still more or less sluggish from her nap. She arrived downstairs to see Harry and Ron, among others, doing many different things, such as working on assorted assignment, or simply having a nice chat. She walked over and sat next to Ron and Harry, suddenly feeling self-conscious about her hair and quickly fixing it with her hands. She then began to fuss over her robes, Harry cocking an eyebrow and Ron simply continuing to work on his Charms assignment, his brows tensed in obvious confusion.

"Well, I don't want to look messy." Hermione said placidly, abruptly ending any conversation that may have come of it. She then took the materials she had left earlier, quickly going back to work on her paper. She found, however, that she still wasn't able to concentrate on it very much… She albeit continued to fumble through it, her hand beginning to cramp, her body getting tired… She didn't know what was wrong with her at that moment. She let the parchment lay on her lap for a moment, her quill hanging haphazardly out of her hand, dangling between her index finger and thumb. Harry looked a bit worried for a moment, but didn't actually say anything, a bit leery of Hermione snapping at him again. She picked up her quill and began to write again, the quill sliding on the paper lazily as if it were some sort of cumbersome weight in Hermione's hands. Finally, she forced herself to finish the paper. Hours had passed, neither Ron nor Hermione completely able to concentrate on the schoolwork, though their reasons were staunchly different. It ended up that the two were the only ones still down there, both attempting to finish up quickly and go to bed. Hermione was the first to finish, and by the time she had packed up all her materials, she had gotten a good glimpse of Ron… His flaming red hair, the modesty of his freckles, the strong face behind them… She finally figured some out, though she didn't quite connect it with her lack of efficiency quite yet… She had feelings for Ron. She began to say goodnight, nervousness taking over her actions, trying to force her to mask her feelings as much as possible. Finally, she managed to get something out.

"Goodnight…" Inside, she felt empty, as if she had just forced everything out of herself to say that… She hoped that she was acting natural, but at that moment, she couldn't really remember what natural was, how she had always acted around him for years… She quickly started up the stairs, though for some reason she felt as if she was walking erratically, so she quickened and steadied her pace, walking up the stairs awkwardly. Ron simply looked up, a puzzled look on his face, and quickly went back to his paper. This would be the last time for a while that anything would happen between the two…

Weeks later, Hermione found herself laying in her bed one evening thinking about Ron. By now, she was head over heels, for the boy, completely caught up with him… And he still had no idea. No one did but Hermione… And it was tearing her up inside. She had to let him know somehow… She was nervous, though. That was the excuse she kept giving herself… Too nervous. Later. She couldn't take it anymore, though, so she decided to push it all aside and simply ask him the next time they were alone… This time would come later than she expected, though, and that would cause a problem… She found her desire to be with Ron growing, trespassing into all of her thoughts… Her grades had been dropping, though she had actually gotten to the point that she didn't care (which, in spite, worried her). The first time it caused a _real_ problem, though, was one time in Potions class… Snape had developed a nasty little hobby of reading off especially horrible homework assignments to the whole class. Hermione Granger had yet to be one of those people, but just barely… But there was a first time for everything, and Hermione's first would be horrible for her...

"And now… A simply _wonderful_ piece from Miss Granger…" Hermione's eyes popped open, her mouth slightly agape. What had she written on that assignment…? She couldn't even remember… She had been thinking about Ron too much. Wait… She couldn't have written--!

"We'll skip to the most… amusing part." Snape said, his mouth slowly curling into an off-looking smile. "…Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron… Then we have a cute little heart drawn in, then even more… 'Rons.'" Hermione felt her whole body going numb as the whole class erupted into laugher, at least, everyone except Ron, who was either completely oblivious or in total denial, and Harry, who felt embarrassed for Hermione. Tears forming in her eyes, she stood sharply and ran out of the room, not wanting Ron to see her and not wanting the class to see her cry. She simply waited in the bathroom, sobbing, when she was startled to feel a chill go through her.

"Hermione… All alone and crying. How very, very, sad… It makes me sad… OOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Hermione's eyes quickly snapped up to see Myrtle, a small smile escaping to the surface of her transparent face. Hermione gave her a very dirty glare and stomped out of the bathroom, retiring to the Gryffindor chambers. She went to her bed, where she flopped down and cried, not wanting to think about what had just happened. After a good few minutes of crying, she cried herself to sleep. She woke up what seemed to be hours later; luckily, potions had been her last class of the day. No one was here with her, which was fine with her, but she felt that she needed to talk to Ron… She went downstairs, and to her luck, she found him alone.

"Ron… What are you doing alone down here?" She said softly, waiting impatiently for an answer. She couldn't stand to look into his eyes…

"I wasn't hungry." Hermione was a bit worried about this, but she didn't feel the need to voice this. She simply forced herself to look into Ron's eyes, bracing herself for what she was about to say.

"I see… Um, Ron…" Hermione stammered. "Do… Doyoufeelthesameaboutme?" Hermione's voice was soft and squeaky, and she badly slurred her words, but Ron, by some small miracle, heard her.

"What? Why, of course I do, Hermione."

"You—You do?"

"Yeah… Why wouldn't I?" Ron stood, seemingly preparing to leave the room, only half paying attention to Hermione.

"Then… Then…" Hermione stuttered, edging over to Ron.

"Hermione, what are you— Mmf…" Ron found his lips slowed by Hermione's, her hands slowly creeping around him and hugging him closer to her… His eyes bugged, but he didn't protest anymore than that… Finally, after what seemed to be forever, she released him, her face bright red.

"Um…" she stammered, forcing a smile. "I—"

"What in _blazes_ is wrong with you!" Hermione's eyes widened, shocked and frightened, and Ron stared at her virulently for a moment, then stomped out of the room, leaving his things. Hermione froze there, staring at the doorway, which Ron had exited. She felt absolutely horrible at that moment, like a disease… She was too shocked to even cry, so she just stood there, heartbroken… At that moment, Ron stormed out and into the lunch hall, right past Malfoy…

"HARRY. We need to talk."

"Ron, I'm busy—"

"I said, we _need_ to talk. NOW." Ron's voice cracked more than ever before, and Harry reluctantly walked away from Cho, an ever-apologetic look on his face.

"Ron, what _is_ it?"

"Harry, Hermione _kissed_ me just now!"

"…So?"

"'So?' What the _hell _do you mean by 'so!' She _kissed_ me!"

"Ron… I'm not going to say I'm not surprised that she kissed you, but it was obvious how she felt about you…"

"What?"

"Ron… You thick prat… You were _there_ in potions class!"

"Oh, I never listen in that class… I had earplugs in. What happened?"

"Ron…" Harry relinquished an exasperated sigh. "…Never you mind… The point is, she _likes_ you. Now… Do you feel the same way about her?"

"I… I guess…"

"Tell me, how did you respond?"

"I… Sort of stormed out, I guess…"

"Ron! You idiot… Go and apologize. NOW!"

"But—"

"Go!"

"I—Now wait just a bloody second! Who made _you_ expert on love? You get into one damned relationship and--"

"Oh, so it's love now, is it?" Harry's mouth slowly crept into a smile, especially when he saw Ron's ears become a shade of bright crimson.

"I didn't say that!"

"Yes, yes you did…"

"Well, that's not what I meant."

"Of course not…" Harry's voice dripped with sarcasm, making Ron's ears turn even redder in frustration.

As this conversation ensued, Draco had his own devious plans for Hermione. He had more or less put two and two together, figuring that they had gotten into an argument… After having talked briefly to Crabbe and Goyle, Draco made his way to the Gryffindor area, spotting Hermione exit furiously toward the great hall.

"Gran— Uh, Hermione…" Draco walked up behind the witch, scaring her a bit.

"Wh—What do you want?" Hermione quickly turned to shield herself from Draco's harshly judging gaze. He simply masked a smile and turned walked around her, looking into her eyes as earnestly as he could. He even gave her a small smile, which she returned with a skeptical yet secretly welcoming look; she was feeling a bit vulnerable… She wouldn't let him know it, though. She quickly shifter to giving him the coldest gaze she could muster, or at least, the coldest gaze she _wanted_ to be able to muster at that moment…

"Hermione, what's wrong? Were you crying just now?" Draco gave her an almost puppy dog-like face, staring into her reluctant eyes.

"Well, ye—I mean, no! I mean, none of your business…" Hermione backed away from the wizard and began to walk when Draco grabbed the sleeve of her robe, softly yanking her back.

"Just wait a second… I only want to know what's wrong. No mudblood business, no pure blood rubbish, just you… I mean, what's wrong with you, at least… So what happened?"

"I—That's a bit hard to believe, Malfoy…"

"May you curse me with my own wand if I'm lying…" At this, Draco slowly, almost dramatically, took out his wand, giving it to Hermione. "Now… What can I do to help you?"

"I… You see…" Hermione stammered, looking down at the ground in confusion. She finally decided to relinquish at least part of her information, though. "I… Ron hates me, and—"

"But how could Ron hate those beautiful eyes of yours?"

"Ah—" Hermione quickly looked up, red creeping into her cheeks, her voice getting a bit squeaky. She almost smiled, but was barely able to hold it back. "Dra—Malfoy, just what are you trying to do?"

At this, Malfoy heard a slight banging sound coming down the hall. He quickly grabbed Hermione, pressed his body against hers, and plunged Hermione into a kiss…

"Come on, Weasly! No fun for us if you run away!" Crabbe's voice was low, as if he were trying to hide something. He and Goyle were furiously chasing Ron down the hallway, wands out.

"God dammit, would you two leave me a—Hermione…" Ron's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw not only Draco kissing Hermione, but Hermione fervidly returning the kiss… He simply stood there for a moment, Crabbe and Goyle snickering behind him. The first to catch Ron's eyes was Draco, but he simply looked back to Hermione, sniggering wickedly to himself in his mind.

_Perfect timing, guys… **Perfect**… Damned mudblood'll never know what hit her…_


End file.
